The Prince of Gotham
by Calecus
Summary: After living a long life, Harry Potter died and is reborn as Adrian Wayne, the younger brother of Bruce Wayne. Born into this new world, Harry still retains memories of his former life, and it seems his magic is there to stay as well.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling & Batman is obviously not mine.

Summary: After living a long life, Harry Potter died and is reborn as Adrian Wayne, the younger brother of Bruce Wayne. Born into this new world, Harry still retains memories of his former life, and it seems his magic is there to stay as well.

o-O-o

Bruce was patiently sitting on the chair, swinging his tiny legs to entertain himself. This was not an easy feat to accomplish for a four year old since they had been in the hospital for a long time now waiting for the baby to come, but somehow he managed. It helped that Bruce was imagining all the fun things he would do with his little brother once they got back home.

Mean while, his father was pacing outside of the waiting room anxiously as Alfred watched on with hidden amusement.

"Master Wayne, I believe if you continue in that manner, you'll wear the floor out in no time at all," Alfred commented lightly, eyes crinkling in mirth.

Thomas Wayne stopped and looked over at the other man with a sheepish smile.

"I can't help it, Alfred," his father said before he finally went over to sit beside them. "Even when Bruce was born, I was so nervous that another doctor had to take over for me."

He gazed up at his father, head tilting in curiosity. "Daddy was scared?" Bruce asked softly.

It was hard to think a man like his father could ever be afraid; his father was always the one person Bruce ran to when he was scared.

The Wayne patriarch chuckled, placing a hand on his small head and smoothing back his hair. "Well, just a little, but it was also one of the happiest days of my life when you were born," Thomas Wayne admitted warmly.

Bruce grinned, glad that his father really wasn't that scared.

"A little?" Alfred repeated with skepticism. "I happen to remember a certain someone fainting at the first sign of labor and that was before we even arrived at the hospital that day."

His father coughed suddenly, face colouring red before saying, "Let's not get into that, Alfred. I just had a dizzy spell, that's all."

"If you say so, Sir," their butler agreed in a tone that said otherwise.

Before any more words were spoken, the sound of a baby's cry rang out in the room, signaling the arrival of the new member of the Wayne family.

His father quickly stood up, excitement and anxiousness returning at once.

A few minutes later, a nurse soon approached them with a smile. "Congratulations, Dr. Wayne. You now have a healthy seven pound baby boy."

"And my wife? Can I see the both of them right now?" his father asked, barely containing himself from rushing inside the room.

With the nurse's permission, the three of them entered the room where his mother was laying on the bed and holding a blue bundle in her arms.

"Oh, Martha," the Wayne patriarch let out, attracting his mother's attention.

She looked up, her expression morphing into pure bliss. "Thomas," his mother whispered, "you have to see him - he's so beautiful."

His father kissed her forehead affectionately and gazed down at the baby. The man then cradled the precious bundle in his own arms.

"Mommy? Are you okay?" he asked with worry, seeing how tired she appeared.

His mother caressed his cheek. "I fine, sweetheart. A good day's rest, and I'll be back to normal in no time."

Confirming that his mother was okay, he then turned to his father.

Carefully holding the baby, his father sat down on a chair beside the bed. "My little prince..." the man breathed with awe.

It was at this time that Bruce finally took a first glimpse at his little brother. Black tufts of hair covered the head around a pinkish face. Then slowly, the small eye-lids began to open, revealing green in the colour of glowing leaves.

Bruce could not help but stare deeply into those eyes, feeling a connection to his brother immediately. It was not something that he could explain; he just _felt_ it.

"Daddy, look," Bruce said quietly, "his eyes are green."

"Yes, they are... he has my mother's eyes," his father whispered out with such a gentleness only reserved for those he loved.

Bruce blinked at that. "Grandma?"

He received a nod in return before his father glanced back at him. "This is your brother, Bruce. This is Adrian."

"Adrian," Bruce said the name as he softly touched the tuft of hair on his brother's head, amazed at how small Adrian was compared to his hand.

Was he ever that small? Looking at his baby brother, it was hard to believe anyone could be so small. So fragile.

"Can we take him home now?" Bruce asked, wanting them all to return to the manor so he could show Adrian their home.

Shaking his head, Thomas Wayne replied, "Not yet, Bruce. He still has to stay just in case because a newborn is very vulnerable; it's for his safety that he remains here for now."

He nodded immediately in understanding. "Because he's so small..." his brows then bent in determination. "But I'll protect him, Daddy," Bruce proclaimed with all the seriousness a four year old could muster.

His father smiled proudly at him before turning back to the baby. "It looks like Bruce will be watching over you now, Adrian."

In answer to that, baby Adrian yawned minutely before closing his eyes in sleepiness, content in the security of those around him.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling & Batman is obviously not mine.

o-O-o

The bottle of milk remained stubbornly immobile as Harry continued to glare at it, concentrating with all his might to try to move the damn thing. Having mastered wandless magic long before he died at the age of 107, it was more than frustrating to relearn how to release his magic in this new body.

A couple months had already passed since his 'rebirth', and Harry was oddly shocked that he had adapted to the situation so well. He wasn't sure having memories of his old life was a blessing or not, but he was grateful to still have his magic with him.

Harry didn't know how this was possible, but it seemed his 'next great adventure' was for him to start all over again as a baby in this new world. It wasn't proven yet, but he just knew that this wasn't the world that he left and that it was an entirely different one.

While he was somewhat annoyed at this new predicament, another part of him reveled in this chance to experience a new life with loving parents. And if he was truthful with himself, Harry would admit that he had also grown quite attached to them.

When they had brought him home to the manor, he had been constantly surrounded by their presence. Harry discovered that his new parents were very compassionate people, always wanting to help others through donations. As their newborn son, they showered him with affection and tender care, though Harry was unused to such attention. Unlike the attention he received as the Boy-Who-Lived, his parents' attention was saturated with so much love that it pained him to finally know what he missed out on in his childhood as Harry Potter.

Still most of all, Harry had grown quite fond of his brother. Bruce was so innocent and light-hearted that he couldn't help but see how adorable his brother was - a sentiment that he would definitely keep to himself. And true as any older brother, Bruce was quite protective of him. However, as the mentally older one amongst them, Harry also felt the need to protect Bruce in return. They were quite the odd match, but it suited them.

Shaking himself from his musings, Harry decided to resume his training. He once again concentrated on the baby bottle, attempting to call his magic out and move it. It remained motionless as he searched for that familiar feeling somewhere inside.

Slowly, he felt a pulsing beat, and the bottle tipped slightly. It was so close - he almost had it. Just a little bit more...but then, he lost his grasp on the magic at the last second, and the bottle halted its movements completely. No!

Harry banged his small fists against his bedding as tears began to prickle at the corner of his eyes.

Perhaps his mind was that of an adult, but his body and emotions were still that of an infant. Thus, he gave into the frustration and cried out. Really, with his past life, Harry would think that such things were too trivial for him to cry over, but apparently that was not the case for a tired and grouchy infant.

A few seconds later, Harry felt himself being picked up as a hand rubbed his back in a soothing motion.

"Shh, it's alright," his new mother said gently. "It's alright, Adrian."

Harry slowly calmed down as he was being cradled in her arms, enjoying the warmth and comfort his mother was giving. He took the moment to relish in the feeling before embarrassment washed over him. Harry inwardly cringed soon after. As a mentally grown man, he shouldn't be crying out just because he felt upset!

"Is he okay, Mommy?" Bruce asked, concern colouring his voice.

Harry looked over at the child, guilt worming its way through for making his brother worry. Bruce really was an empathetic boy for his age and considerate to those around him. Harry thanked Merlin for having Bruce as his brother and the older Waynes as his parents. In that regards, he was indeed fortunate since the last thing he needed was another Dursley family.

"I think so," she said, "Adrian seems to be fine now that we're here."

To reassure his brother, Harry gurgled joyfully while his tiny hands were raised towards the other boy.

Bruce smiled widely in response and gave his finger for him to grasp. "Maybe he was lonely," Bruce suggested, playing with his hands.

Their mother gazed upon them softly. "When you were his age, I remember you would love to listen to our voices."

"Really?"

"Yes, you would continue to cry until your father or I could calm you down by speaking to you," she explained.

His brother appeared thoughtful with that information. "Then can we try talking to Adrian?"

With their mother's agreement, they both attempted to entertain him with their voices.

Harry glanced at them with amusement and strong affection as this went on.

As Bruce and his mother continued to talk, Harry realised for the first time that he could remember, how peaceful he truly felt. Looking at his family, a serene happiness filled him, and he wondered if this was as close as it could get to heaven.

It was then that a familiar warmth flowed into his chest, a tingling sensation that he would recognize anywhere - his magic. At the same time, something else caught his attention as he looked up.

The baby bottle.

Harry blinked in surprise as it floated up in the air behind his two family members. 'How?' he wondered, basking in delight of his success. That feeling soon turned to panic as he realised something else. He had to bring it back down immediately before his mother and brother noticed it. No matter what world he was in, a floating bottle was _not_ a normal occurrence for muggles.

Concentrating on that feeling of warmth in his chest, Harry imagined the bottle back on the table. Nothing happened for a moment, and his nervousness was about to set in until it gave a slight twitch. The bottle jerked some more before it finally descended back down. With much relief, Harry loosened his control as the magic receded back inside him.

Well, that was a first... accidental magic based on his happiness. In his past life, they usually occurred when he was either hurt or in distress. Perhaps this new world affected his magic differently somehow.

'I guess controlling my emotions should be the first step then,' he mused before an internal groan announced itself. 'That means rebuilding my occlumency shields.'

"Hey, Adrian, look," Bruce said, scrunching up his face in an attempt to make him laugh. It was such a ridiculous expression his brother was showing... but it worked because a giggle escaped from him without his permission and another one soon followed.

'It may be a hassle to relearn to control my magic,' Harry thought as his mother joined in making their funny faces, 'but my new family is definitely worth it.' With that belief, he decided to finally give in and laughed freely.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling & Batman is obviously not mine.

o-O-o

"Oh my, almost a year old, and I can't believe your other one - Bruce - will be starting school soon," the mayor's wife gushed as she stared at him and his brother.

"Yes, they are growing quite fast," his mother replied politely, shifting him in her arms.

At the moment, Harry and his family were at a lavish fundraiser for the children's hospital, and he was not enjoying the occasion at all. This was his first official appearance to the 'elite' society, and so far, it consisted of strangers pinching his poor cheeks repeatedly and cooing at him in a high pitched voice. Indeed, he was definitely not a happy baby right now.

Compared to his first sojourn into the wizarding world, this was worse - far worse. At least the wizards' profuse handshaking and pats on the shoulders were tolerable. It was overwhelming, but not as numbingly suffocating as this.

"And little Adrian is simply too cute for words," the blathering woman continued on. "He certainly inherited his parents' good looks."

'Merlin, can we please get away from this woman already?' Harry pleaded as he looked towards his mother imploringly, hoping that she would understand his silent message for escape.

"It's been wonderful speaking with you, Carol," his father broke in, "but I believe Jacob from the legal department has been meaning to speak with us."

'Good ol' Dad to the rescue,' he cheered in his mind as Bruce gave a sigh of relief once they hastily walked away from that monstrosity of a woman.

"Hang in there, Bruce," their father said quietly. "Just another hour and we'll leave here soon."

"Okay," his brother replied before brightening up. "Does that mean we can go to the park after this?"

Their mother hummed in thought at that. "Well, it has been a while since we last visited the park."

"Then the park we'll go," the Wayne patriarch decided as he ruffled his brother's hair.

"Yay!" Bruce excitedly exclaimed, echoing his own thoughts.

'Anywhere is better than this place,' Harry agreed whole heartedly with a happy babble.

As the minutes past, his family subtly situated themselves near the snack table, hoping to perturb anymore over zealous acquaintances. Having nothing else to do, Harry took this chance to practice his legilimency. While he had been slowly building his occlumency shields, he had yet to enter a person's mind. Harry absolutely refused to use that ability on his family, so he really didn't have anyone to practice on until now.

He looked out at the mingling groups, trying to choose a person to be his unwilling volunteer. All he needed was a single glance into their eyes to begin.

"Ah, Dr. Wayne and Mrs. Wayne," a loud voice announced. "It's so good to see you both at this auspicious event."

'Oh, great,' Harry grumbled internally. 'Not another one.'

A large man lumbered towards them, and his eyes widened at the size of the person. The man's body was formidable enough to rival that of Vernon Dursley, with a round protruding stomach to match. He was also dressed in oversized trousers that were held precariously up by a thin belt. It was like déjà vu - very bad déjà vu.

"Yes," Thomas Wayne said neutrally, "and you are?"

From his father's tone, it seemed he didn't like the man either, and Harry had a feeling his father's instincts were usually sharp regarding other people.

"Pardon my manners - I'm Frank Stiltson," the man said easily, "and I would like to discuss my company's project with you."

The man then launched into an explanation of the project that centered on finding a resource for alternative fuel and how it will benefit the environment greatly. The only problem was a lack of funding to support the research, and Stiltson was hoping that donations from their _generous_ family would help start them off.

As Stiltson went on, Harry grew more suspicious of the man and his true goals, not believing in Stiltson's words for a moment.

'I guess I found my volunteer,' Harry thought with a grimace. He was not going to enjoy rummaging through this man's mind. Not at all.

He gazed directly into Stiltson's eyes, waiting for the man to make eye contact with him. Perhaps feeling his stare, Stiltson glanced fleetingly at him and that was all it took.

'_Legilimens_,' Harry whispered to himself, and he dove through the man's thoughts.

Legilimency was about hearing a person's surface thoughts, and if one was skilled enough, they would be able to pull a memory up and view it. That was how he used the spell in his previous life, but what he experienced now was completely different and unexpected. Not only was he able to hear the man's current thoughts, but he also knew all of the man's previous thoughts from the past. In addition to that, he had access to not just one or a few, but all of Stiltson's memories. Everything that made up the man, Harry was able to see and hear. It was all too disturbingly easy.

Harry knew that he was adept when it came to legilimency over occlumency, but this was beyond mere mind reading. Did this new world changed how his legilimency skill worked? He truly didn't have an answer to that, but he would certainly look into it later. For now, Harry had to concentrate on Stiltson.

What he discovered in Stiltson's mind was what you would see in a low-class thief. Stiltson planned to use the money for his own ends, collecting it for himself and never intending to finance his company's project. Stiltson's intent from the beginning was plainly to deceive and steal from naive philanthropists.

Disgusted, but satisfied at what he found, Harry decided to get rid of the man from their presence right away. Concentrating on Stiltson's belt, he worked his magic to rip a tear right through it. '_Diffindo_'.

"And as you know-" Stiltson then stopped in mid-sentence as his trousers fell to his feet, exposing his polka dotted briefs for everyone to see.

His mother gasped in shock and immediately covered his eyes, though he doggedly tried to peek through her fingers - he didn't want to miss the action!

Horrified, Stiltson's face turned a deep red in embarrassment, and he tried to pull up his trousers while stumbling out, "E-excuse me - I have to...". The man didn't finished as he rushed away, bumping into other people and out of the room.

Immensely proud of his work, Harry then glanced at his brother and father.

Bruce covered his mouth with a hand, trying to stifle his laughter while their father appeared disapproving though Harry could see the glint of amusement in his eyes.

"Well, that was strange," Thomas Wayne said lightly.

Bruce giggled at that. "Can we please leave now, Daddy?"

Smiling at them all, their father replied, "Of course. I think I've _seen_ more than enough for today."

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling & Batman is obviously not mine.

o-O-o

Harry had been here for over three years now and from his experimentations, he concluded that his magic indeed reacted quite differently. Now, he didn't all of a sudden gain an unlimited amount of power or any such ridiculous notion. No, but what he did discover was no less unusual.

Certain aspects of his magic had either stayed the same, strengthened in a way, or weakened. His charms and occlumency had basically stayed the same while his legilimency had improved exponentially.

Unfortunately, his transfiguration could be described as non-existent at the moment. Harry had yet to successfully transfigure an object or conjure anything, which was beyond disheartening. He'd been trying to transfigure his teddy bear for months now with no luck and only managed in making the stuffed animal a little softer than it originally was - a disappointing but pleasant effect.

What he had deduced so far was that the intent in the magic still mattered. However, it seemed the magic was more reactive when it also involved his emotions. Another interesting thing were the incantations to his spells made no difference at all to how he casted his magic. These days, Harry found himself saying them more out of habit than a real need for them.

Though today, he was going to concentrate on runes instead of transfiguration. He wasn't giving up on it, but since no progress was made on that front, a change was desperately needed. The stability of his sanity demanded no less.

Harry stared at the sheets of paper littered on the low table. The papers contained what seemed like weird designs drawn on them as he held a crayon in his hand. While his mind remembered every single rune from his old world, his toddler hands had yet to catch up to it. So far, what he attempted to draw ended up more like a house elf's version of writing... which was not very legible if one had ever attempted to read their hand-writing.

Runes were something he learned and used later on in his life as Harry Potter. He became interested in them after he left Hogwarts to travel the world and explore beyond what was in Britain. From his travels, he learned the carving of runes were so exact that any minuscule mistake could be disastrous. Because of that, Hermione was so shocked that he was actually good at it. Even Harry was surprised at how easy it was to imbue the runes with his magic, and he hoped this skill would not weakened in this world either.

Harry tightened his grip on the crayon as he once again began another rune. His hand moved as he tried to create a sharp curve before rounding the edge at one corner. This continued until the rune was completed, and he then stared at the finished work.

'Great,' he irritably thought, 'it looks like it was drawn with an ogre's club.' It was even worse than before... maybe he should try writing with his left hand now?

"Adrian?" a voice called as they entered his room.

He immediately looked up to see the Wayne heir standing near the door.

"Bruce! You're home!" Harry yelled, running towards his brother.

Bruce had been gone for two days on a school trip to the next city near Gotham. It was also the first time they were separated from each other longer than a few hours. Harry didn't think he would miss Bruce that much since it was only for two days, but apparently, not having his brother around the manor left a very noticeable gap.

"Hey, Adrian," Bruce greeted before laughing out as Harry wrapped his arms around the taller boy. "What's this? I haven't been gone for that long."

"You're wrong," he said in a matter of fact tone. "It felt much, much longer than that."

His brother smiled and patted his head. "Well, since you miss me that much how about we play a game of hide and seek?"

His eyes gleamed with excitement at the prospect of beating the other boy. Bruce knew the game was a favourite of his since Harry was very good at hiding and seeking. It was actually a way for him to practice his stealth and tracking skills that he honed in his former life when he was running from the Death Eaters while searching for the Horcruxes. Besides for that, it was always fun to play with his brother.

"Okay!" Harry agreed at once, deciding to forego runes in favour of spending time with Bruce as he released his brother. "Remember to count to one hundred before coming."

"Don't worry, I won't cheat," Bruce said with a grin. "And this time, I will find you."

"You can try," Harry shouted as he ran down the hallway, "but you won't find me!"

Wayne Manor was not called a manor for nothing. When Harry had the chance to explore his home, he couldn't help comparing it to Malfoy Manor at first glance. Both were immensely large, exclusively opulent, and filled with so many antiques - so much history. However, that was where the comparison ended. While Malfoy Manor exuded an aura of dark elegance, Wayne Manor was the complete opposite. His home had a majestic warmth that was very similar to Hogwarts in welcoming its occupants.

Going down the staircase and passing the many rooms in the manor, Harry knew the perfect place to hide. It was such an obvious location that Bruce would search for it last. Arriving at his destination, he discreetly snuck into the kitchen where Alfred was preparing for dinner.

"Master Adrian?" Alfred questioned, pausing in chopping the vegetables to look at him.

"Shh," he whispered with a finger towards his lips, indicating a need for silence. "I'm hiding from Bruce."

"Ah," the older man let out. "I see that Master Bruce is 'it' this time. Very well then, I shall remain oblivious to your whereabouts."

Harry smiled in gratitude. "Thanks, Alfred."

Even though Alfred was their butler, to the Wayne children he was more like their uncle. The older gentleman had a light but sarcastic sense of humour that he enjoyed; it was something that Harry came to slowly appreciate after the battle at Hogwarts. In a way, he was finally able to understand Professor Snape's dry and dark humour since it was a way to cope with the harsh and violent life the man experienced.

"If I may suggest, the food pantry seems like a good spot," Alfred commented.

He nodded his head and went to open the door of the food pantry. "If Bruce comes, remember that I was never here," Harry reminded the older man.

"Of course, Master Adrian," Alfred easily acquiesced with a twitch of the lips, the only sign of the man's amusement.

It seemed like a lot of time had past as Harry continued to hide away in the pantry. By now, Alfred had already left the kitchen to do some other work. He was beginning to wonder when Bruce would give up so he could leave his hiding spot until a noise from the kitchen alerted him to another presence.

He tried to quiet his breathing before stretching out his senses in order to identify the person's aura. This was a very useful ability when he was trying to find or avoid a specific person, and the wizard who taught him this neat trick was actually Ollivander. The old wand maker wanted to repay him in a way for his rescue, even though it was Dobby who did the deed. None the less, Harry was still happy to learn from Ollivander.

Aided by his magic, Harry felt the aura of the person, instantly recognising who was there. It was Bruce.

'Finally,' he thought in relief before frowning. Though Harry was tired of hiding, that meant he had to lose if he wanted the game to end.

From the other side of the door, Harry could hear Bruce opening and closing the cupboards in his search, getting closer to his location. He now had only a few seconds left until his brother would go look in the pantry.

'I guess Bruce wins this one.' Harry decided to accept the lost since his brother was so tenacious in his search. Honestly, he was really impressed that Bruce had finally found him for the first time. As the door handle moved, Harry closed his eyes but couldn't help but think, 'I should have chosen the library.'

He waited for Bruce to say something and when nothing happened, Harry opened his eyes and instantly widened them in disbelief.

Before him was not his brother nor the inside of the pantry. Right in front of him, in all its glory, was the Wayne library, filled to the ceiling with books and reaching two floors high. Harry rubbed his eyes to insure he wasn't imagining this, only to confirm that it was indeed real.

'How...' he thought in confusion before another question entered his mind. 'Wait, did I just apparate?'

o-O-o

'Huh, I thought I heard something,' Bruce wondered as he closed the pantry door, disappointed that Adrian wasn't in there.

He had already spent the last hour searching the entirety of the manor, looking into every place that his brother could hide. Usually, their game would last around ten to fifteen minutes, with him giving up in the end because he couldn't find Adrian or with Adrian finding him. This time though, Bruce was determined enough to keep searching no matter what.

The result of that left him very exhausted and irritated. Bruce had to be doing something wrong if he had yet to see a sign of his brother anywhere.

Deciding to sit at the kitchen table for a brief respite, Bruce released a sigh. 'Where on earth can Adrian be?'

TBC

A/N: Just want to say thank you for all the reviews, favorites, & alerts. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter too.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, & Batman is obviously not mine.

A/N: Sorry for the delay. Also planning on editing the past chapters a little bit. Next chapter will be posted in a few days after that.

o-O-o

Harry took in a slow, steady breath and gazed out his window to see the sun peeking in the sky. His eyelids closed for a moment before opening to an entirely different scenery. The vast sea greeted him as he stood on its remote sandy shores, far from watching eyes. Barely a second later and his surroundings changed again to a ledge on a mountain top.

'Brilliant,' he thought to himself as he once again returned to his room.

Apparition had never been easier. There was no loud crack nor the sensation of being sucked through a tube, and any disorientation that was associated with this method of transportation was gone. As long as he had a clear destination in mind, his body seemed to just fade away without any feeling of displacement at all. It was strange, but he certainly had no complaints; it was just so _easy_.

Now, if only the same could be said about transfiguration. Despite his efforts, the ability to do any transfiguration was definitely gone. No matter how hard he tried, nothing would work. Harry was not happy about that, but he would live with it.

Glancing at the clock, he noticed there was still a few hours left until his family awoke. His eyes lighted with anticipation as he remembered their plan for the day.

Today was his filth birthday.

o-O-o

Bruce smiled in amusement as he watched his brother squirmed in the seat of the car. He could tell Adrian was barely holding back his excitement as they drove on their way to the zoo to celebrate the little boy's birthday.

"I'm looking forward to seeing the new lion exhibit," their father said as they waited at a red light.

His interest perked up that. "Were they caught from the wild? Mrs. Jenkins says that all lions come from the safari."

"Actually, they're transferred here from a Russian zoo," mother revealed. "A male and two females, I believe."

If possible, Adrian became a little more excited at that. He tried not to rolls his eyes at the simplest things that could entertain his brother. Sometimes Adrian could be very mature for his age while at other times he was just like any kid; Bruce was quite used to it by now.

Once at the zoo, it became apparent that they were not the only ones there who wanted to see the new animals. The whole place was packed to its capacity that there was hardly any elbow room to move around. Each of the elder Waynes held on to their children as they pushed their way through.

Bruce didn't know how they did it, but their family managed to insert themselves into the thick of it. Everywhere he looked, there were other children with their own families crowding around different cages and taking plenty of pictures.

"Can we get closer to the giraffes? Or maybe the camels?" Adrian asked quickly as they passed the flamingo enclosure.

"I don't think they'll allow us to get any closer than this," their mother explained, frowning behind a large group that refused to move.

"How about we go over there?" father pointed at a building with a painted lizard above its entrance. In mutual agreement, they swiftly tried to navigate to their new destination.

The reptile exhibit was just as busy, but people were moving in and out quickly so he didn't mind as much. Bruce soon released his mother's hand as he tried to look further in.

"Thomas!"

His parents looked over as a man he recognised to be his father's colleague came over.

"Ben, I didn't think you would come today," father called out.

As his parents talked with the man, he noticed that Adrian was no longer with them. Bruce quickly looked over the mingling crowd and spotted his brother standing before a glass enclosure. Adrian seemed to be gazing thoughtfully at an animal, not noticing anything else around him.

He left the adults to their discussion, trying to walk towards his brother. As Bruce got closer, he was able to see that it was a very long, green snake behind the glass. Glancing at the sign, the description revealed it to be a python over 14 feet in length that was captured from the wild. He looked back at his brother and wondered what was so interesting about the serpent that captivated Adrian so.

He soon settled himself beside the smaller boy. "You look so serious staring at that snake."

Adrian blinked up in surprise before blushing, having been caught drifting off into his own little world again. "Well, it's because - you know, it's so big and... yeah," his brother finished lamely, cringing slightly at the explanation.

Bruce nodded empathetically, trying to reassure him. "Yeah, big things are always cooler."

They both looked at one another for a second before chuckling softly at their own silliness.

"Okay, I'm done staring now," Adrian said with a smile. "Let's go see if we can get dad to help us feed the goats next."

"If we're lucky, maybe we can convince mom to let us feed the wolves also," he added cheerfully, though not really serious about the suggestion.

Adrian gave him a look. "I don't think she'll allow that, especially not after your attempts at feeding the foxes near the manor."

A sigh escaped him. "I know, but I can still hope."

Before Bruce could say any more, screams erupted around them. It startled him, and he watched as Adrian's body went rigid at once.

"The animals! They escaped from their cages!" a man was shouting. "All the animals are free!"

He immediately grabbed hold of Adrian as people ran to get out of the building. His eyes roamed in search of their parents, but they were impossible to find as everyone rushed forward.

"Hold on, Adrian!" he yelled, gripping his brother's hand as bodies pushed against them.

The wave of people forced them to move along, and they had no choice but to follow and try not to get trampled over. Out of no where, someone shoved roughly against him, causing him to trip. Bruce quickly recovered only to realised that he had released his brother's hand. He stood his ground despite the still moving crowd, trying to see where Adrian was.

"Adrian!" he cried out, but it was no use. "Adrian!"

Bruce ran through the crowd, trying to search for the familiar shape of his brother. Horror soon settled in his stomach as time passed, and he couldn't find him anywhere. Adrian was no longer there - he was gone.

He shouldn't have let go! If only Bruce had held on tighter, then they wouldn't have been separated. He had to find him - find his little brother before something bad happened. Bruce quickly dashed back to where they were together last, praying that Adrian would be all right.

o-O-o

A crowd of panicking and hysterical muggles was definitely _not_ in his plan for a fun day at the zoo. Neither was being shoved and corralled like a cattle in a mass of moving bodies. Least of all because of a mishap with the cages that left all the animals running amok. Nope, not what he had expected at all.

After a few minutes of this horrendous treatment, Harry decided to apparate away since the people surrounding him were too preoccupied to notice if he disappeared out of thin air - that and he couldn't stand another moment of being pushed around like a quaffle. A second later, he instantly appeared behind a leafy shrub that was near the reptile exhibit, hoping to catch sight of his family on where he last saw them.

It was completely silent and void of people as he stepped out to get a better look. He walked further away, trying to sense the auras of his family. Feeling no one around that he recognised, Harry was about to cast a locating spell until a noise stopped him. It came from his far left.

What met his eyes was the large form of a gorilla... a male gorilla with long, strong limbs that could easily crush small children like him. He knew some animals had escaped from their cages, but that information didn't really register until now. Knowing something and actually witnessing it was completely different, which was why the gorilla's appearance shocked him so.

He stilled his movements as the primate slowly approached him. Harry was about to apparate away until he noticed the security cameras on the nearest building and a few more on top of the lamp posts. And just his luck, the cameras had a view of the whole area where he and the gorilla was having this lovely meeting.

Having no other choice but to disable the device, he swiftly used a severing charm to cut the wires that were attached to the camera's side. The red light on the camera flickered off, indicating it was no longer working. Harry was about to cut the next one until the light glowed red again on the first camera. Brows bent in confusion, he repeated this with two other cameras, but it ended in the same way: the red lights turned back on and were still recording.

'What kind of muggle technology is this?' he thought irritably, squinting his eyes to read the tiny label on the camera.

Wayne Enterprise.

He blinked dumbly at that. Well, bugger him - Harry should really start paying attention to what his family's company was actually doing. Short of blasting the device to pieces, he didn't have any other way to disable the cameras without drawing suspicion. Now that he thought it over, it would be too much of a coincidence if all the security cameras malfunctioned with him being the last thing recorded.

Directing his attention back to the gorilla, he was relieved to see it stopped at a safe enough distance away. Strangely, the primate was sitting on the ground, head tilting to one side as it regarded him with clear eyes. It didn't seem aggressive or dangerous at the moment. Perhaps apparition wasn't necessary at all.

He took a few steps back, and the primate continued to gaze at him intently, as if it was the first time it had seen a human... how odd. Feeling no hostility from its aura and very intrigued himself, Harry decided to try something he'd been meaning to do for a while now: legilimency on an animal.

In hindsight, it would have been more prudent to just walk away and find his family already since they were no doubt searching for him. However, a part of him was really curious to see what would happen... yeah, a little peek wouldn't hurt anyone.

With that decided, Harry cautiously looked into the gorilla's eyes. '_Legilimens_.'

If the difference between a human's and an animal's mind wasn't apparent before, it was now. There were no coherent words or any order to the thoughts at all - mostly just images and emotions. He felt the gorilla's wonder and inquisitiveness in being able to explore outside. He then saw memories of a lush jungle before it dissolved into images of people. Faces were fading in and out until one stuck to the forefront: his.

He sensed the gorilla's interest in his presence and its confusion on why he smelled different than other humans. That revelation gave him pause. Was it true? Was his scent not normal then? Other questions soon arose as he pondered this information, wondering if his magic had anything to do with it.

Having explored enough, he was about to pull out from the mind and finally leave to find his family. That was the plan until another emotion surfaced, showing the gorilla's desire to follow him once he actually left. Well, that would be highly inconvenient.

Since that was the last thing Harry wanted, he tried to send over images of the gorilla remaining where it was or returning to its enclosure instead of following him. He wasn't certain if this would work or not because he had only ever tried this with other people. This method of communication was very tricky when he first attempted it from an obscure tome on mind magic. It mentioned that with enough practice, a wizard could be able to mentally speak to another person, but Harry had yet to manage that.

The large primate shook its head, as if to dislodge something. It then stared at him with knowing eyes, as if he just revealed something it knew from the start. They continued to gaze at one another until the gorilla got up and turned away. Watching the gorilla's form disappear behind a building, he was surprised that it actually worked.

Harry grinned in satisfaction. That wasn't bad at all.

TBC

A/N: Some people have been wondering if the older Waynes will die in the future or not, and the answer is yes. I believe they died when Bruce was eight, but I will extend that till he is ten or eleven instead.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling & Batman is obviously not mine.

A/N: Someone asked about pairings, and I just want to say that there are no planned pairings for Bruce or Harry. There is going to be very little romance, if at all, in this fic. The most that can come up is Bruce's future interest in female canon characters.

o-O-o

"Bruce!"

He stopped abruptly and twisted around a few people to see his parents. "Mom! Dad!"

They sprinted towards him, pushing through a throng of teenagers. Bruce immediately jogged ahead, having to avoid an elderly couple passing him before they finally reached each other.

"I'm so glad you're all right," his mother said, bending down on her knees to hug him.

His father did the same before looking up at their surroudings. His stance still guarded amongst the crowd of strangers. "Bruce, I can't see Adrian, where is he?"

He bit his lower lip, his frustration returning like a dead weight. "We - we got separated, and I've been looking everywhere, but I still can't find him," Bruce voiced out, ashamed that he'd lost his brother.

Both his parents' face paled in hearing that. He hung his head down, unable to watch their expressions as the knot in his stomach grew.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, fist clenching anxiously. "It's my fault - I shouldn't have let go of his hand." If only he had been stronger.

"Sweetheart, it's not your fault," mother reassured quickly, tilting his chin up. Her eyes were soft as they search his. "Do you understand? This was out of your control, and we should have been there for the both of you."

He nodded his head slowly, wanting to believe in that but having trouble accepting it at the moment. This was something he just couldn't forgive himself so easily.

"Don't worry, Bruce," his father said, gripping his shoulder steadily, "we'll find Adrian soon. He can't have been too far from the reptile exhibit."

o-O-o

Harry grumbled in annoyance as a group of penguins shuffled in his way as he tried to get past. He didn't know how long it had been, but so far, his encounters with the animal kingdom was not of the friendly kind.

Between a herd of stampeding zebras and almost being physically assaulted by a peacock, it was turning out to be one of those days that even McGonagall would run away from. Yet worst of all was dodging the brown projectiles that were thrown at him by a bunch of monkeys... yes, monkeys. One would think that those animals could be reasoned with, but they cared only for mayhem. They were tiny devils in disguised that had nothing better to do than harassed innocent, little boys.

He would forever be scarred by those wretched monkeys.

And despite all of this, he had yet to run into a single person. Harry had yet to find his family because traces of their aura were too faint for him to clearly pinpoint, and for some reason, the locating spell wasn't able to find them either. Now, if he was a less paranoid person, this would all be chopped up to bad luck. But he possessed a very healthy dose of paranoia, and 'Constant Vigilance' was too deeply drilled into him. Thus, Harry was now a few galleons short of blasting the next thing that surprised him.

Suddenly, one of the penguins waddled up to him, and he warily stared at the bird. It just blinked harmlessly for a few seconds, acting suspiciously cute until it bounced forward and cuddled into him. Harry gawked at it in disbelief. The nerve of the bird! He was about to push it back, but then it squawked and hurriedly ran away with the other penguins, almost disappearing from sight. Before he could begin to question the weird behaviour, a cold sensation seemed to crawl down his spine, filling him with dread.

Swallowing nervously, he slowly turned around... of course, out of all the animals that could have scared the penguins away, it had to be a _bloody_ _lion_. A very big and obviously hungry lion. Its dark mane rustled menacingly as it gazed at him. Though the animal was yards away, Harry was still able to feel the hostility it emitted.

'I wonder what my chances are of convincing it that I'm not food?' he thought grimly. The lion then roared angrily while it stalked closer to him. 'Hmm, not much.' Having no other choice, Harry quickly looked into the feline's eyes.

He entered the lion's mind and immediately knew something was not right. There was some kind of silver veil that was covering the feline's mind. It prevented him from communicating with the animal, and he was unable to see anything further. The veil had a heavy presence to it as he hovered near the edge of the mind, observing for any clues. A short moment later, he finally identified what it was: some other being was occupying the lion's head and controlling it.

Without warning, the being shifted its attention towards him, and before he had any more time to process the anomaly, it swiftly rammed itself against his occlumency shields. The first contact left him struggling to remain standing, and the subsequent attacks were weakening his shields at a dangerous rate. He tried to reinforce them, but that only bought him a little bit of time until the inevitable occurred; his shields soon collapsed.

The intrusion sent blinding pain to his head, almost paralyzing him as his knees buckled to the ground. But just as fast as it occurred, Harry knew he had to react just as quick to defend against the foreign presence. Using sheer will to overcome the pain, something he developed from handling Voldemort's own mental attacks, Harry concentrated all the mental skills he possessed to push the intruder out of his mind.

It was very much like sand. It was the only thing he could equate it to - like trying to stop sand from flowing through the crevices and cracks of a wall. Very difficult to achieve and harder to expel once its inside... but not impossible with magic. Gathering his magic, he focused with all his might and gave one final shove. The push resonated with strength, and it worked in driving the intruder out.

His body eventually slumped in relief as he felt the presence fleeing. Though successful, the ordeal left him breathless as he clutched his throbbing head. If that wasn't fun enough, there were also the annoying white spots behind his eyes, preventing him from seeing anything else as he knelt there in a disoriented stupor.

That was when a low growl sounded right in front of him, so close that he could almost feel the warm breath upon his skin. 'Shit, the lion.'

Looking up, he was introduced to the hazy image of the feline. Before he could react, a giant black blur passed him and crashed into the lion, sending the large cat sprawling away. Very slowly, as if to aggravate him further, the headache finally receded to a dull ache. And once his vision began clearing, Harry was able to recognise what the blur was.

A gorilla.

It was a gorilla. Apparently, it was the same one he met a while ago. His eyes widened in confusion, not believeing in the sight before him yet. 'Okay, this is getting too weird.'

The gorilla now stood between him and the lion, pounding its chest in a show of intimidation and baring its teeth in warning at the other predator. He didn't have a moment to even question the absurdity of the act before two other lions had arrived to assist their male counterpart.

Oddly enough though, Harry still had time to see the irony of the situation. It really would have been a slap in the face to the former Gryffindor if he was killed by his old house symbol. If that was his fate, then he just _knew_ Draco Malfoy would be getting a grand laugh out of it from beyond the grave.

'Wait, what!' Harry abruptly felt himself being lifted up by the collar of his shirt and being placed on the gorilla's back as the trio of lions began to circle them. 'Well, this is new.'

Now that was quite an understatement. Climbing on top a troll? No problem. Being carried by a centaur? A humble experience. Riding a dragon? Nothing he couldn't handle. Clutching onto a gorilla's back as it defends him from a pride of lions? Well, he always did aim to break records, didn't he?

Based on their behaviour, Harry could tell the other two lions were also being mind controlled; that just meant more bad news for him. Since it seemed like there were more security cameras in this area, he had to figure out how to stop the lions without revealing his involvement or the involvement of magic in any way.

A simple stunning spell would have solved everything if it didn't look so suspicious with the animals falling unconscious for no good reason. Any other charms or spells that could capture them would be too conspicuous. He could probably cast some kind of feline repelling ward around himself (a trick he actually learned from Ron), but that would allow the lions to roam free and possibly hurt other people.

As he thought more about it, a plan gradually started to form and not a second sooner because the lions chose that moment to rush forward. Harry clung on tighter as the gorilla leapt away from a swiping paw, but was not fast enough to avoid another lion coming to the side.

The large cat latched on to the gorilla's arm, fangs trying to sink in. '_Relashio,_' he quickly casted. The spell forced the lion to release its hold, giving the gorilla the opportunity to dash away from the other two lions as they pounced in.

Now that they were temporarily out of immediate danger, Harry entered the gorilla's mind, showing it images of the plan and his intent on defeating the lions. The gorilla blinked twice before turning its head to look at him. He stared back with determination, and the gorilla let out a breathy grunt in response. If his primate friend was human, Harry would have counted that as a reluctant sigh.

With firm resolve, the gorilla then charged towards the male lion. As they drew closer, the large cat prepared itself to meet them head on.

'_Confundo_.'

Suddenly, the lion staggered in its movements, head shaking in confusion as it stared around blankly. Taking this chance, the gorilla's fist landed a blow to the feline's head at the same time Harry mentally casted, '_Stupefy_.'

The result of that was instant. The lion laid unconscious near their feet, appearing to have been _knocked_ _out_ by the hit if anyone was to watch the recording of this fight.

Harry grinned in triumph. 'One down and two more to go.'

The last two lions were easily dealt with in the same manner. Once finished, the gorilla released a heavy breath, and they both turned to look at the large cats. All the lions were now blissfully sleeping, and they won't be waking up for a few more hours... or perhaps longer than that. He might had been a little over zealous on the stunning spell.

Carefully, the gorilla then lifted him off its back and took a few steps away from him. Green met black as they gaze into each other's eyes. Now that it was all over, a rush of emotions flooded into him, but the feeling that surfaced first was gratitude. Harry mentally sent a feeling of appreciation and gratefulness towards the other primate, hoping it would understand. Unsurprisingly, the gorilla's head nodded slightly in acknowledgement before walking away on its four limbs to perhaps explore more of the zoo.

As he numbly stood there, it was in that instance when Harry finally noticed something else. There was a gathered crowd surrounding the chaos of their fight. He immediately froze like a niffler caught stealing silver ware, trying very hard not to move as he saw their slack jawed expressions along with a few looks of amazement.

'Ruddy hell, how long have they been standing there?' Harry wondered in horror. How was it even possible for him to not notice any of them until now?

The crowd persisted to gaze at him in awe and disbelief, which was starting to disturb him more than he wanted to admit. It was too eerily similar to the way people first saw him when he was the Boy-Who-Lived. Not a very enjoyable experience truth be told.

"Adrian!"

His head swiveled in the direction of the shout to see his brother running towards him with their parents not too far behind. Bruce looked relieved, though another emotion crossed his face that Harry couldn't identify. As if that was the signal, an explosion of loud voices ignited from the silent crowd as his family raced to where he was standing.

His brother was the first one to reach him, tightly enveloping him in a hug. "Are you okay, Adrian?" Bruce whispered near his ear, concern pouring out of his voice.

At once, Harry felt the guilt rising for worrying his brother to such a degree that he would sound like that. He patted his brother's back, trying to reassure him. "I'm all right, Bruce," he said gently, hoping his tone would assuage any lingering fears.

Their parents soon joined them, with his mother's arms wrapped around him as Bruce moved away slightly. "Adrian, are you hurt?" she asked desperately.

"No, Mom - I'm okay," he managed to breathe out before she released him.

His father's expert eyes were checking him over for any injuries, scanning every inch of him in detail. "Are you sure, son?"

"Dad, I'm fine, really," Harry replied in embarrassment as they continued to fuss over him. "And Bruce, you can let go now."

His brother had moved on to grasp his hand, but Bruce had chosen to ignore his request with a stubborn expression. Realising how the contact was a measure of comfort for his brother, Harry decided not to mention it any further.

The Wayne patriarch reached down and brushed his hair back smoothly. "Adrian, what exactly happened?"

Harry blinked nervously at that. "I-I don't know," he said, the lie almost stuck in his throat. Harry didn't want to deceive his family, but he couldn't possibly tell them the truth. Instead, he went on to tell them how he was lost in the crowd and his encounter with the animals before finishing softly, "But the gorilla... it saved me." At least with that, he could be honest about.

Father stared at him indecipherably for a moment, but soon nodded in acceptance of his explanation. A warm smile graced his father's face afterwards in relief.

"Oh, Adrian," his mother sighed, the stress finally easing out of her shoulders. "When you said you wanted to get closer to the animals, I never would have imagined you ending up right in the middle of their scuffle."

Harry grinned sheepishly at her. "But I still didn't get the chance to feed the goats yet."

Both his parents laughed in exasperation at his question while Bruce fondly rolled his eyes, the grip on his hand remaining firm. Despite how everything had turned out, Harry honestly thought this trip was eminently more exciting and entertaining than Dudley's eleventh birthday trip to the zoo ever was.

'Yup, way better than Dudley's birthday,' he thought with contented delight.

o-O-o

The golden mask concealed her entire face, only reflecting the light from the hearth as she pondered this enigma. "How peculiar," she murmured in the quiet of their chambers.

"What is it, Mother?" Mordred demanded softly, curious at her comment.

Morgaine le Fey turned to her son, who was lounging on the settee as he played with that electronic hand held game. A look of interest that rarely adorned his face was settled on his features.

"For the past year, I have begun to sense a new magical presence," she informed, rising from her meditated state.

"There's nothing special about that," scoffed Mordred. "Isn't there always some kind of magical energy popping up?"

Morgaine smiled behind her mask, but it was not a pleasant one. Her son may be immortal due to the spell she casted on him centuries ago, yet that same spell that stopped his ten year old body from aging also stopped his mind from maturing as well. Such was the price for immortality.

"Yes, but it is unlike any I have ever felt," she continued. "It is uniquely different."

Magic from the gods she had felt a glimmer of, magic from demons she more than dabbled with, and magic from the fae she possessed. The other magic of this world were of lesser concern to her, yet this was not any of those. Could it somehow involve the Homo Magi?

Her son huffed out in annoyance, still impatient with her answer. "Do you know who it is then?"

"I saw only a glimpse into their mind before I was pushed out," Morgaine added calmly.

He gasped in shock. "Impossible! No one has ever succeeded in doing that since..." her son trailed off, nervous to speak that name.

She nodded slowly. "Merlin."

That man was the only person who ever came close to destroying her - erasing her existence. Her enmity with the ancient sorcerer was legendary as it was merciless. This new being, however, was no where near Merlin in power, but she could not deny that there was potential dwelling deep within there.

"What will you do, Mother?" Mordred asked, a hint of worry seeping into his voice.

Morgaine thought about it for only a moment. "Nothing."

"What! But why?" her son cried out. "Doesn't he pose a threat?"

"I only seek to test him at first out of mere curiosity, and I am satisfied for now to wait and see how he progresses," Morgaine admitted before another thought arose. "But..."

"Is there something else about him?"

She shook her head sharply, the only sign she would show of her dissatisfaction. "His mind presents a conundrum of identities," Morgaine confessed, remembering the only thing she discovered that was confusing her. "He is born and referred by others as Adrian, yet he thinks of himself as Harry... just Harry."

TBC

A/N: Morgaine le Fey & Mordred are based off from the JL & JLU animated series.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Harry Potter & Batman are not mine. I own nothing except my imagination.

o-O-o

Patience. Patience and tolerance were something they said to be gained from age and experience. Unfortunately, the norm had never really applied to him.

"I mean, I was there with my dad, but I still couldn't believe it," Roger babbled on, his words flowing out in an endless downpour. "Weren't you scared? I would have been terrified, and those lions were huge."

It took almost all of Harry's self-control to not groan out loud or smack his head on the table as he tried to ignore his fellow classmate sitting next to him. Scattered around the room were other children wedged in their seats, attempting to write the alphabet as instructed. However, the attention span of kids these days were down right atrocious, and thus, it had trickled down to mindless chattering before long. Their teacher was now a bundled mess of stress and a few galleons shy from a nervous break-down as she tried to bring back discipline.

"The rhinos were big too, but I didn't get to see them when they escaped from the cages," the other boy continued on without exhaustion, as if he was powered by a well oiled motor engine. Harry had stopped listening ever since his thoughts tipped numbingly near the precipice between insanity and boredom.

A few months had passed since that scuffle at the zoo. It was a pleasantly chaotic scene when help finally arrived to wrangle all the animals up, and most of the authorities were left scratching their heads as they pondered on how the creatures had escaped in the first place. Rumours arose that it was a group of animal activists that released the creatures, but police investigators could only confirm that it was an accident. Somehow, Harry highly doubted that.

He suspected the 'foreign presence' controlling the lions was behind the whole affair. Despite the trouble caused by the occurence, there was one positive aspect that came out of it: that was his first encounter with something truly magical other than himself. Of course, he was wary of this new being, but another part of him was indisputably excited to discover magic existing in this world — proof that Harry wasn't the only magical being left. That knowledge by itself had eased the loneliness he didn't know was baring down on his mind.

Meanwhile, Kongo - the eerily intelligent gorilla - was acclaimed as a hero for 'saving the Wayne boy', and the primate's actions were praised through out the city. Sometimes, Harry would arbitrarily visit the gorilla during the night under an invisibility charm, often bringing with him a treat of fruits. During those visits, Harry would usually get the chance to see more into Kongo's mind, exploring glimpses of the gorilla's past. Strangely enough, there were parts in its memories that were too shrouded for Harry to view, and he didn't know what to make of that.

Besides for the gorilla's rendezvous with Harry, Kongo also became a celebrity of sorts for Gotham Zoo. Unfortunately for Harry, the same also applied in a way. There was no one in Gotham who didn't know his face or name by now. The Gotham Gazette had been printing articles of that story for days, and it didn't help that a lot of people had taken pictures of the event. At least they didn't deign him with a ridiculous title like the 'Gorilla Boy' or some other nonsensical moniker — that remained his only solace in this situation.

However, when school started, he was wary that it would be like his first year of Hogwarts all over again. Luckily, that was not the case; athough, Roger seemed to be the sole exception. People only stared at him on the first day, and after that, he was like any other kid. Well, not exactly like the other children. Granted, he didn't remember much of primary school in his old life, but Harry was certain the kids then were not so wild. And he really couldn't help but wonder: had children always been so loud, obliviously inconsiderate and just plain _messy_?

Harry then edged away from a kid that was blatantly picking her nose, but he couldn't stop himself from staring incredulously. 'Oh dear, Merlin, she can't be thinking of—' Apparently, no one had ever told the little girl that it was not hygenic to ingest such unsavory things.

Roger chose that moment to poke him roughly on the arm, trying to recapture his attention. "Oh! And my favourite part was the gorilla jumping away from the lions — that was so cool!"

His eyebrows twitched in annoyance.

o-O-o

The forest wrapped around Wayne Manor was like a blanket of moss. Bruce silently trudged through this vegetation as his brother continued to count for Hide n' Seek. The weather was pleasant, but the sky was filled with grey clouds, very much like that day a few months ago.

The day after Adrian's birthday trip to the zoo, reporters hovered in droves outside their manor. He was more than accustomed to reporters when attending galas or fundraisers, yet Bruce still disliked the hounding attention from them, whom were all eager to get an interview with his brother. Thankfully, his parents prevented such attempts, and he was relieved that Adrian didn't seem too affected by it. Everything seemed to have calmed down by the time it was fall and once school had started for his brother. Hopefully, things would remain that way.

Bruce brought his attention back to his surroundings when he almost tripped over a rock. It was probably not a good idea to zone out and walk at the same time. With a shake of his head, he concentrated back on the game. Now, where was a good hiding spot?

He soon came upon a series of bushes that were closely crowded together to form a kind of barrier and smiled to himself; Adrian shouldn't be able to find him this time. Bruce swiftly jogged through the plant, intending to hide somewhere behind it. Before he knew it, the world seemed to tip side ways, and Bruce felt the ground swallowing him up as his stomach lurched dangerously.

He fell.

o-O-o

Harry mussed up his ebony hair and huffed in equal parts humour and bewilderment. Hide n' Seek with Bruce shouldn't be this extrenuous, yet here he was, bending under garden benches and climbing over stone walls in search of his brother. Sunday afternoons were usually spent relaxing with his family or playing outside with Bruce. Although, presently, it was more of a hunt for his brother than anything. In the end, he decided to cast a locating spell because it really was taking too long, and Harry had this urgent feeling that something was not right.

Following the pull of magic, he walked a little beyond their property and into the forest. The spell eventually lead him to an outcrop of trees and bushes — particularly towards a leafy shrub straight ahead of him, which was evidently his brother's hidden location. He then jolted in surprise when a lone bat flew over the shrub, a parting high pitch screech was the only evidence of its presence as it disappeared in the distant sky. Berating himself for reacting to such a silly animal, he continued on towards the plant.

Harry plowed through the shrub, expecting to find his brother within its tangly branches. However, he ended up on the other side of the plant with no sign of Bruce at all. Befuddled at this, he casted the locating spell again, wondering if there was a mistake. Unexpectedly, the spell pointed further away to a small fissure in the ground, which would have been innocuous and unnoticeable to any person walking by. His heart plummeted to his stomach as realisation slowly anchored in. Harry ran as fast as he could to the edge of the crevice before looking down in near panic. Nothing but blackness met his sight.

"_Lumos Maxima_." A white orb appeared in the air, emitting ripples of translucent light. His gaze soon locked on the orb as it descended steadily into the shadowed chasm. From the luminescence, jagged rocks bursted forth, and thick roots were like gnarled limbs that hooked out — all seemingly untamed and untouched. Cold fear then gripped him harshly as the motionless sight of Bruce emerged in the soft glow.

Before the next breath could be exhaled, he was already by Bruce's side through apparition, kneeling down and cautious of moving his brother. Instincts from hard fought battles kicked in as Harry threw out a scanning spell to check him over. The beat of a second seemed to pass like a grain of sand in an hour glass as he waited. Yet the scan finished a moment later, and his eyes shut briefly in quiet relief; Bruce was only unconscious.

Other than a few scratches, the only serious injury seemed to be a broken arm. It was a clean break along the bone, and such wounds could be mended without too much difficulty. Harry sent a silent 'thank you' to Madame Pomphrey for teaching him all she knew when he became interested in healing. He was no where near proficient as a qualified healer, but Harry was quite adept at manipulating the magic to enter the body and fix most injuries; that more than anything made up for his lack of experience.

Both hands soon found themselves hovering over the wounded forearm. Brows knitted in sharp focus as he tried to summon his magic and form the energy delicately enough to seep inside another body. A glow of blueish hue surrounded his hands like a glove. It remained frozen for a second before cascading down to his brother's arm in a rush. He could feel the magic weaving intricately through the bone at once, finding the fracture and sealing it slowly back together. When the last segment of bone was mended, it left him leaning forward in exhaustion while the glow faded away from his hands.

Just as his magic receded back, the sun chose that instant to shine down on them through the crevice, illuminating the ground they sat upon. Having no more need for the white orb, he extinguished it with a whispered, "_Nox_."

The warm ray played across his brother's soft features, high-lighting the arch of his nose and the smooth planes of his cheekbones. The sight irrevocably sent a pang under his chest to see how vulnerable Bruce was, laying there like that. He knelt there in placid contemplation, watching his brother. It was scary how easily Bruce could have fatally injured himself from the fall — how easily he could have lost him.

With a sigh to push such thoughts away, Harry decided to wake his brother up. Surely, Bruce didn't appreciate sleeping on the floor of a dank and chilly cave any longer than was necesary. He shook his brother carefully and called out his name, arousing him from deep unconsciousness.

Dark lashes fluttered faintly, stubborn on remaining shut. A few more shakes of the shoulder were necesary before blue eyes gradually opened to meet his. "Adrian..?"

A smile sprouted on his face, glad to hear the familiar voice. Bruce sounded tired and dazed, but was fine otherwise. "Hey, Bruce. You okay there?"

The Wayne heir nodded his head gingerly and tried to raise himself up to a sitting position. A hand on his shoulder assisted him as Bruce looked around. "Wha-what happened?"

"Well, there was this hole," he gestured above them, "and you took a nice tumble down it before deciding to take a nap."

Bruce blinked slowly, probably attempting to process his explanation in the sanest way possible. "... I fell... from all the way up there?"

"Yup."

"I- I think I remember," Bruce whispered. His eyes then narrowed in concentration, very similar to when he was trying to solve a particularly hard puzzle until a loud gasp escaped him. "My arm!" Bruce lifted his arm immediately and extended it in every direction, testing its flexibility. A look of astonishment soon painted his face when there was no pain accompanying the movement.

"Your arm?" he asked innocently.

"Yeah, I must have landed on my arm because it was really painful when I tried to move it," Bruce mumbled in confusion, "but it doesn't hurt anymore."

Harry hummed a noncommittal response. No way was he going to clarify any further on that predicament.

Suddenly, Bruce's demeanor took on an abrupt change, a flash of fear crossing his face minutely. The Wayne heir then searched franticly around the shadowed walls of the cave, as if expecting a monster to jump out and attack them. It was not a look he distinctly liked on his brother.

"Bruce?" He hoped nothing else was bothering him; Harry was certain he healed everything from the fall.

Bruce turned his head to stare at Harry for a long stretch of time. The silence from Bruce began to unsettle him quite a bit. Yet it was the gleam of desperation in his gaze that had Harry anxious. "You found me," the Wayne heir stated simply, the unbalanced air finally evaporating around him as he referred to their game.

Harry was tempted to either laugh or hug his brother for snapping out of his strange mood; he settled for a half-grin instead. "Of course, I did — I would always find you."

Bruce shook his head in wry amusement. "I guess I'm really lucky that you're so good at Hide n' Seek."

He suppressed a smirk at that. Perhaps someday Harry would allow his brother in on his secret prowess for the game... maybe.

"Come on," he extended a hand to help Bruce up. "I think it's time we get back. Mom and dad must be pretty worried by now."

"Yeah," Bruce agreed, standing and brushing the dirt off his trousers. "Hopefully, we weren't gone for too long."

From the position of the sun, Harry would estimate it to be around a little more than an hour at most since their game began. Fortunately, Alfred was too consumed with the cleaning today to be monitoring their little escapade, which would have brought an earful of lecturing on another occassion.

While adjusting his sight to the dimness of the cave, it was then that a slight problem occurred to Harry.

"Adrian, how are we going to get out?" Bruce asked, peering up at the mouth of the fissure before glancing back at him, finally noticing Harry's immaculate form that should have been impossible to achieve in their current surrounding. "And how did you get down here anyway?"

"Uh..." Harry's ever wonderful eloquence seemed to have wandered off, leaving him horribly tongue-tied at the moment. Apparently, he really didn't plan this thing through when he healed his brother. Shit.

TBC

A/N: My heart and prayers for everyone affected by the Colorado shooting. Next chapter we will see the fated night at Monarch Theatre, but not everything will go as expected.


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